Academy Award-nominated American actor Haley Joel Osment was born on April 10, 1988 in Los Angeles, California. He is the son of actor Eugene Osment and Theresa Osment, and is the brother of actress Emily Osment of Hannah Montana fame. He attended the Flintridge Preparatory School in California and New York University’s Tisch School for the Arts.
Haley Joel Osment was chosen to act in a commercial when he was four, after a casting director saw him at a furniture store. He then landed a role in the Tom Hanks movie, 1994’s Forrest Gump, before having minor roles in Mixed Nuts and For Better or Worse. He was also given a starring role in the series Thunder Alley, which was followed by two more sitcoms. In 1996, he was cast as the lead role, Albert Franklin in Norman Jewison’s Bogus. He played alongside Whoopi Goldberg and Gerard Depardieu. He was also given roles in other series like The Jeff Foxworthy Show and more notably, Murphy Brown. In 1999, Haley Joel Osment rose to fame when he landed the part of Cole Sear in the blockbuster The Sixth Sense. He was 11 then, and received his first Oscar nomination. He also won a Saturn Award for Best Young Actor for the role he played opposite Bruce Willis.
In 2000, Osment was cast in Pay It Forward, a drama also starring Kevin Spacey and Helen Hunt. The next year, he earned his second Saturn Award for playing a robot in Steven Spielberg’s Artificial Intelligence: A.I. He also starred in the Polish film Edges of the Lord, as well as voicing characters in an episode of Family Guy, in the movie The Country Bears in 2002, in Disney’s The Jungle Book 2 and The Hunchback of Notre Dame II. Osment has also provided the voice for the character Sora in the Kingdom
Hearts video game series.